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"Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, September 12, 2000 - 7 Question of the There is a municipal election coming in November. How important is it to you? Week... 2 John Rosettis It's very important. | want to find out who is going to represent Bill Corlett Not really. | think the mayor is doing a good job... they're all doing a good job. Our taxes are Sandra Wickens | think it's important if it affects our chil- drens' education. We need to get (trustees) us. down, they're looking in there who are after our water and looking out for chil- saving us money. dren. Rene Bouffard The (mail-in voting) is the most idiotic thing favours the incum- Matt Webb It's very important. Quite a number of issues need to be addressed like our roads'and water. We need to elect people who are aware of the issues at hand. I've heard of. It bent totally. Scugog council will be left to explain spiralling costs To the Editor: It is to be hoped our council- lors will explain why the land use planning for Scugog was changed so drastically as it will cost the Ratepayers millions of dollars in the coming years. In future, new development in Port Perry will be subsidized by the present homeowners. New home building will be halted on rural roads, losing us a free source of revenue. Over the next 20 years: a Port Perry homeowners will subsidize the cost of the enlarged sewer. a The high cost rural roads will no longer be used for housing and will no longer produce tax revenue. aOver three million tax dollars will be spent yearly to subsidize these non-productive rural roads. Incurring such high losses may be justified, but there is no expla- nation to date. Doug Wilson, Oshawa Don't miss this photo opportunity To the Editor: This letter to the editor is for all students and staff who attend- ed Port Perry High School during the 1950-51 school year: please remember that the retake of the 1950 school picture is to take place on Saturday September 16 at Port Perry High School at 2 p.m. If you miss this photo oppor- tunity, the next one will not be available until the year 2050. John Hewitt port.perry.star@sympatico.ca LETTERS Big Brother's not the only financial option To the Editor: [ read an article last month which was generously donated by a local branch about the need to seek financial advice from the bank. The original article's theme was that the average investor was getting poor advice from their advisors, and that the best solution would be to seek "top quality, experienced financial advice" from their banker. Historically, the banks have proven to be good lenders, and now that they are beginning to move beyond GIC's and their own funds, the level of qualifications demanded by the public are increas- ing. Unfortunately, we all know what it's like to get to know someone, whether the advisor is at a bank branch or not, only to find out later they've been replaced or moved on. If you want a long-term per- sonal relationship then you should find someone who has your interests at heart, from the very start. | strongly suggest you talk to family and friends, or obtain a referral from another trust advisor, such as an accountant or lawyer. The article routinely interchanges the term financial planner with investment advisor - possibly misleading readers to think they are one and the same. According to the quoted Financial Health Poll, the reasons for switching financial advisors are due to bad advice, lack of trust, lack of a personal rela- tionship, and a perceived lack of training. | agree. But what is the definition of advisor, according to the author? On the issue of adequate training, this myth is generally the result of the lack of communication between the client and adyisor, something for which we all must take some responsibility. A regular question | am asked, surrounds the designations being used by advisors today. Within the advice-providing industry, some of the major designations used in Canada include: CFP as the highest financial planning mark; FMA as the highest wealth management mark; CFA as the highest analyst mark; and the CIMA as the highest invest- ment consulting mark. This above list should provide you with some peace of mind that your advisor has the relevant credentials, experience and training. And since not every advisor wishes to list a whole alphabet behind their name, you need to ask. I'm always willing to give credit where it's due, and the original article has a final word that is wise. Investors should seek advice within the context of their overall financial plan; from an advisor they trust; and ultimately from someone who can offer them better solutions. I'd like to add "unbiased" to the list, and that doesn't mean settling for solutions or products recommended based on an internal campaign from Big Brother above. When it comes to your wealth, find an individual, and not necessarily an institution, with whom you are most comfortable, who can provide a relationship built on trust and investment solutions that are customized to incorpo- rate your investment, tax and estate planning needs. Paul Wylie, Financial Advisor rT ------ Random Jottings by }J. Peter Hvidsten OLYMPIC FEVER - The Olympic games are almost upon us, but the past few weeks wv haven't been without controversy. : A number of Olympic athletes, accused of using drugs and steroids, have been banned from the games, causing the games themselves to come under scrutiny. - Canadian Eric Lamaze was bumped from Canada's Olympic show-jumping team last week after two urine samples tested positive for cocaine. China axed 27 athletes from its Olympic team, some of them over "suspicious" results from stringent tests aimed at ending a series of doping embarrassments at intera- tional events. Earlier this year, China also barred swimming sensa- tion Wu Yanyan, world record holder in the women's 200- meter, from competing for four years because of steroid use, knocking her out of the Sydney Olympics. As unfortunate as it is for the countries involved, the fact that top athletes are being banned from the games proves that Olympic organizers are trying desperately to regain control of the games from those who would cheat in order to win. It's been amusing to listen to the reaction of many sports broadcasters on radio and TV shows over the past couple of weeks, who refer to these banned athletes as a reason to discontinue the games. Most of these boorish critics of the Olympics are jocks who don't recognize any sports outside the big four - baseball, football, basketball and maybe hockey. Hell, most of them don't even recognize soccer, the largest spectator sport in the world, as a legitimate sport... although that is beginning to change. In recent years we have started to see some national media increase coverage of other sports. Coverage of tennis, golf, soccer and motor sports, has increased dra- matically, but sadly most amateur sports are still relegated to a few paragraphs at the back of the sports section. Olympic organizers and amateur athletic organizations are at the very least attempting to get rid of the drug users and clean up their image... This is in sharp contrast to professional sports, where athletes with a history of drug problems continue to play their sports with little or no reprimand. And just how many professional athletes do you sus- pect take some kind of steroids to enhance their perfor- mances? | suspect the numbers are staggering. Unfortunately when athletes are paid millions of dollars to play... and owners stand to lose millions of dollars if they don't play... there is little incentive to correct the prob- lem. Personally, | don't care what the "jocks" say about the Olympics. It's the one television event | look forward to with anticipation every four years. I'm going to fluff up a big cushion on the couch, and watch as many of the events as | can absorb over the next 10 days. When it's all over, maybe I'll tune in to see if the Jays are any closer to the wild card spot... how the Leafs got through training camp, and if the Argos won any more games. Heck, by the time the Olympics are over, maybe Vince Carter and the Raptors may be back in training camp. But I'm putting all that on hold for now, because I'd rather watch world class athletes compete in their sports for the love of sport... rather than some pampered, over paid professional athlete, who primarily plays for money.